The Second Edition of the Food Chemicals Codex (NAS-NRC Publ. ISBN 0-309-01949-4, 1039 pp.), published in August 1972, provides quality and purity specifications, in monograph form, for 639 substances used as food additives. The First Supplement to the Second Edition (containing revisions and corrections, plus monographs for a number of substances not covered in the Second Edition) is scheduled for publication in March 1974. Additional supplements are to be issued annually until the completely revised Third Edition is published in 1977-78.